Monitoring? Yes. Sanctions? No.
One of the largest cheating scandals involving collegiate athletes has ended with a slap on the wrist. But students who took fake classes also have restitution of sorts.
The News & Observer reports:
Nearly 50 current students and more than 300 alumni who took fraudulent African studies courses at UNC-Chapel Hill may be heading back to class.
That’s part of the university’s plan to “make whole” the academic degrees of 384 students who took the classes from 1997 to 2009 in what has become a reputation-smearing scandal at UNC-CH.
The plan was accepted Thursday by the university’s accreditor, the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges, which decided to monitor UNC-CH for a year instead of imposing a sanction. The decision came as a big relief to university leaders who for months have been answering questions from a SACS review team.
By undertaking the do-over for affected students and alumni, the university managed to avoid probation or a warning from SACS – sanctions that can be a prelude to loss of accreditation. Colleges cannot get federal funding for research or financial aid if they are not accredited.
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